Thanks guys, things are well and I'm happy with the results I'm getting.

MadCow Week 2

2x200 jump rope w/ 2x6 widest grip pullups

Squats:5x45 lbs5x1155x1655x2055x2455x290

Bench:5x45 lbs5x805x1105x1405x105x200

BB Rows:5x70 lbs5x955x1255x1505x175

Everything was easy today. Decent depth on the squats, a slight bit below parallel on the heavy set. Gym was packed with New-Years-Resolution-but-only-for-the-next-2-weeks slackers, but I managed to get in on a barbell and hold it for the duration of my workout. Had a student athlete Rugby player work in with me on my sets at the same weights, he made them look easier than they felt while I was doing them, even though they were easy to me too. A couple more weeks and it should start to get really challenging.

Gym's still pretty full, I've had to vary my warmup to compensate. Power rack was in use for rows so I had to clean and jerk the bar for the first two sets of squats. When life gives you lemons, punch life in the balls, then do some squats. Although this probably doesn't qualify as "lemons", I still stand by the saying. Everything else went fine as expected until the last set of Deadlift. For some reason my form felt off, even though I concentrated on it for all the lead-up sets. First rep went OK, second I felt my balance shift a bit forward to my toes and I pulled it back, the 3rd and 4th just seemed a little off, the final rep was OK.

Good workout today. Some guys were using the power rack for some crazy pullup/upperbody/core work so I had to clean the bar from the safety pins to the rack for the first 4 sets to keep it out of their way. The heavy triple felt harder than I was expecting it to be, hopefully I'm just having an off day. Everything else went fine.

I realized today that the Uni is closed on Monday, so I won't be able to make it to the gym. Next week might have to be a short week in which I do my normal Monday and Wednesday lifts on Wednesday and Friday, and then the following week I keep the same weights and start again.

Hey mate i had one question how did your Chest respond to the 5x5 , I will be completing 3 month it on 24th Jan and i haven't seen much development in terms of Chest mass although for strength i am hitting my PB every week . Chest is one area i have always struggled , I have come down to 3x5 on all my lifts and i was thinking that what else can i incorporate to aid some chest development as everyone says that do not fuck with the program . You've been on this for a while so i thought you're the best person to give me an advice on the same . You can check my pictures on my Log if you want .

Dips are a great exercise choice, I agree with that sentiment. Leaning forward when you do them puts more emphasis on the chest, keeping in a more upright position hits the triceps more. Do them after your benching if you don't want them to take strength away from your main chest exercise(s).

captfit wrote:Hey mate i had one question how did your Chest respond to the 5x5 , I will be completing 3 month it on 24th Jan and i haven't seen much development in terms of Chest mass although for strength i am hitting my PB every week . Chest is one area i have always struggled , I have come down to 3x5 on all my lifts and i was thinking that what else can i incorporate to aid some chest development as everyone says that do not fuck with the program . You've been on this for a while so i thought you're the best person to give me an advice on the same . You can check my pictures on my Log if you want .

Personally, I have broad shoulders and they've always been somewhat strong, which helps a bit in benching. Looking back at my 5x5 log, I was fine on bench 5x5 until 170 lbs (~0.9x bodyweight). That was at about 16 weeks in. As far as mass developement, it took a number of months (probably at least 6) before it seemed like I had developed nice pectoral mass. ** HOWEVER, aesthetics was never my goal, so I didn't keep track of that or care much about it. That being said, my wife sure was happy with the aesthetics of it!

Keep in mind, Stronglifts 5x5 is not designed to build mass, it is designed to build strength. A bit of mass will come with strength, but not as much as if you were on a hypertrophy program. Bodybuilding/strength training is a long-term journey. Be patient, be persistant, and you will reach your goals. In my opinion, once you can bench press at least 1xBW, then you can add in some hypertrophy work to increase your mass. I think you should develop a strong basis first.

Mini Forklift Ⓥ wrote:Good session considering you think it was an off day ?! Strong benching mate.

thanks. I realized later Friday evening after I wrote up the entry why the squat seemed more difficult. Since I was sharing the power rack, my focus was a bit off and I proceeded to lift my final set in the same method as my warmups - full depth! My ass wasn't on my ankles, as I had the normal (not high) bar position, but I was below parallel and my hams were squashing my calves. I even recall one of the guys saying "damn, you go all the way down" and I said yeah, but didn't think any more about it. Going to try it full depth again this Friday and see what happens.

captfit wrote:Hey mate i had one question how did your Chest respond to the 5x5 , I will be completing 3 month it on 24th Jan and i haven't seen much development in terms of Chest mass although for strength i am hitting my PB every week . Chest is one area i have always struggled , I have come down to 3x5 on all my lifts and i was thinking that what else can i incorporate to aid some chest development as everyone says that do not fuck with the program . You've been on this for a while so i thought you're the best person to give me an advice on the same . You can check my pictures on my Log if you want .

Personally, I have broad shoulders and they've always been somewhat strong, which helps a bit in benching. Looking back at my 5x5 log, I was fine on bench 5x5 until 170 lbs (~0.9x bodyweight). That was at about 16 weeks in. As far as mass developement, it took a number of months (probably at least 6) before it seemed like I had developed nice pectoral mass. ** HOWEVER, aesthetics was never my goal, so I didn't keep track of that or care much about it. That being said, my wife sure was happy with the aesthetics of it!

Keep in mind, Stronglifts 5x5 is not designed to build mass, it is designed to build strength. A bit of mass will come with strength, but not as much as if you were on a hypertrophy program. Bodybuilding/strength training is a long-term journey. Be patient, be persistant, and you will reach your goals. In my opinion, once you can bench press at least 1xBW, then you can add in some hypertrophy work to increase your mass. I think you should develop a strong basis first.

Thanks for such a detailed reply mate , really appreciate the feedback , I am still 15 kgs off my bodyweight when it comes to benching , but squatting every workout and doing max every workout is kinda putting me off now , i am thinking of switching to a Hypertrophy oriented routine , i came across one which lets you do Squat , Bench , Deads on Separate days for a set of 5x5 and then lets you add a Assistance Exercise for 3x8 . I have been on Stronglifts for 3 months and i am thinking of trying out this mix of Strength and Hypertrphy routine for 6 weeks or so and then jump onto something like 5/3/1 . As i will be relocating in a months time or so and that will affect my lifting and once settled in a new place only then i will start something established as 5/3/1 .

I will keep working on my bench and will get back to you on how it feels once i get my bench to my bodyweight .

Since this is a by-week, due to not being able to lift on Monday, I messed around a little today and tried some different stuff out. I tried to do a muscle-up on my first warmup set of pullups and almost got it. When I loosened my grip to transition to the "up" part, my left hand slipped off the grip and I couldn't complete it. I'll try again next time, and hopefully I'll be able to get it. I will probably start doing my warmup pullups explosively to build up the power for it.

The main workout went fine today, except for taking a bit long. The gym was really crowded when I went - I'm going to have to try to get into the gym earlier on Fridays. I psyched myself up for the heavy sets, worrying that i might have trouble with them but forgetting that they should be easily doable. I hit all of them without trouble, good depth on squats, good form on bench and rows. Felt like throwing a bit of grip work in at the end. The farmer's walk was great, last 5 meters each way on the 90 lbs the dumbbells were in my fingers and I was squeezing as hard as I could. The finger hold was just a bit more punishment. I pinched the hex-end of the dumbbell with my fingertips and held it for 20 seconds then moved on to the next weight up. I tried to pick up 25 lbs after the 20 lbs set but couldn't hold the grip. Next time I decide to to this (probably next Friday) I'll start with 10 lbs and see if I can hold the 25 lbs at all again.

Lifts went well. Depth was OK on the squats, below parallel but I wanted to go deeper - just didn't happen in the execution. Bench went up with just a hint of leg drive on rep 5, looking good for progress there. Last time I did BB rows I started to have trouble finishing a set of 5 at around 200 lbs. I set my starting weight pretty low on this one, hopefully I can progress on it for a while. Hopefully all the Kroc rows I was doing during 5/3/1 will have helped.